It's been a few months since the last staff blog update, and I apologize for that. It was a busy end of 2017.

We've recently announced several new community features here on GameDev.net that I'd like to go through - if you haven't spent time exploring all of GameDev.net then you might have missed these!

GameDev Challenges

Spawned from this forum request:

GameDev Challenges is a new community "game jam"-like event for developers looking to test their skills or learn through short-form projects intended to take no more than a month or two to develop. Developers who complete the challenges in the allotted time earn a badge on their profile. Of course, developers can complete challenges after the allotted time, but right now the badges are not awarded.

Right now we are using the GameDev Challenges forum to manage these (Forums -> Community -> GameDev Challenges), and we're currently on the 3rd challenge where developers need to create a clone of the arcade classic Missile Command. The first two challenges were for a Pong! clone and an Arcade Battle Arena along the lines of the classic Bubble Bobble.

I encourage everyone to check out the threads and entries for all the challenges!

In the near future we'll integrate Challenges with our latest announcement: Projects and Developer Profiles.

Projects

As we announced:

The Project profile is pretty extensive. We recommend setting up a developer blog for each Project, which can then be used to provide updates for the Project and will show on your Project page. A Gallery is also automatically created for your Project (if you don't already have one), and from there you can upload screenshots and videos of your Project - these will also show in your Project page.

The rest of your Project profile includes links to your Project homepage, store links, descriptions, platforms, and other details about your project. You can even upload and manage files for others to download. Here's the feature list from the announcement:

• Browse, download, and comment on projects from other Developers
• Provide updates to your project by linking your GameDev.net Blog
• Create your own Developer profile, including with a GameDev.net subdomain (in progress)!
• Showcase your Project with screenshots from your project's linked GameDev.net Album
• Manage your projects through your Developer Dashboard
• Market your project's website, Facebook, Twitter, Steam, Patreon, Kickstarter, and GameDev.Market pages
• Track project views and downloads through Google Analytics
• Upload and manage file downloads for your Project, allowing others to try it out and give feedback
• Link to your project with an embeddable widget (link auto-embeds on GameDev.net)
• Showcase your project with a trailer on YouTube or Vimeo
• Import your project from IndieDB or itch.io

Developer Profiles

Developer Profiles are a new feature of your GameDev.net profile for showcasing your development team(s). We have basic features for this right now with plans to expand it. You'll find all the settings for your Developer Profile in the Project Dashboard mentioned earlier.

NeHe Source Code on GitHub

Also mentioned recently is that we've put all of the NeHe tutorial source code on GitHub at https://github.com/gamedev-net/nehe-opengl. We will accept updates to the source code via pull request.

NeHe is our long-running OpenGL tutorial site for developers wanting to learn OpenGL in a very accessible, straightforward manner, and is available at http://nehe.gamedev.net.

GameDev Loadout Podcast

And finally, if you're into podcasts then I suggest checking out our new Podcast section. We've recently partnered with Tony at GameDev Loadout to showcase his podcasts on GameDev.net. Tony interviews industry professionals and indie developers about a number of game development related topics. He's approaching his 80th episode, which is quite a feat!

Next?

We have bigger plans with Projects, Developer Profiles, and GameDev Challenges, so keep an eye out for more updates. We'll also be re-evaluating the home page in the near future (yes, again) to try to make it easier to find content you're interested in seeing across the entire site.

Oh, one last announcement - the Game Developers Conference is quickly approaching, and GameDev.net members can get 10% off All Access and GDC Conference passes using this code: GDC18DEV

As always, please share any thoughts and feedback in the comments below!